It's the audio version of the Director's Cut. Put all the juicy bits back in which the family-approved rating forced you to take out. It only makes sense. An original circuit designer should offer her own ultimate version if cost-no-issue parts truly take performance up, not just your wallet down. It realizes an uncompromised vision plus accommodates the leaner pockets with the basic release. Audio Note UK has done this parts betterment for years over various tiers. As has Gordon Rankin of Wavelength, for upscale all-silver magnetics with Cobalt cores and other exotica. So when Jack Wu suggested that I "might be interested in the upgraded parts; frankly, these parts are worth the price and bring out the best of the amp," I was with the concept. Why leave the doing it all the way bumper stickers to the after-market modifiers? Jack's $1,050 question -- the list of pre-modified replacement items -- was as follows:

Vcap 0.15/600V

Jensen 220u/450V

Jensen 100u/500V

BlackGate vk 150u/350V

BlackGate std 220u/16V

BlackGate std 470u/160V

Mills-mrc50 750ohms/50W

Mills-mra12 22k/12W

Mills-mra5 7.5k/5W

Mills-mra5 15k/5W

Mills-mra12 62k/12W

Audio Note Tantalum 330/1W

Audio Note Tantalum 330k/0.5W

Jack also forwarded the following two photos of the innards to demonstrate his workmanship. With 35lbs and 40lbs respectively, the on-board iron for each module suggests uncommon cojones.

Nobody reviewing single-ended low-power tube amps with any ambition of wider perspective can do a solid job if he hasn't a proper 300B amp in-house for reference. If there's one tube that epitomizes the renaissance of single-ended triode amps, it's unquestionably the 300B. Woo Audio's Model 5, proudly hand-crafted in New York state, hits plenty of check marks on paper and forum buzz on the brand is high, too.

With an itchy pin inventory of Western Electric 300Bs stashed away and Woo Audio's two-box multi amp promising to do triple duty on my W-1000 audio-technica 'phones, AKG K-1000 winged earspeakers and various high-sensitivity speakers, I'd be in business on all fronts. Woo Audio promised 3-week built-to-order turnarounds. With my birthday coming up, I was ready for woo-hoo. I opted for the fully loaded version, cleaned out a left-over US currency account that was losing value by the day with the current weak dollar exchange and set the clock for a nice audio care package surprise in March...

In the meantime, a bit of recon on the firm was called for and I asked my contact Jack to fill in the bits. Woo Audio is a family business between three main players - pater familias Wei (chief engineer and builder) and brothers Zhi Dong (engineer and designer) and Jack (owner, sales rep, quality assurance, webmaster, designer and "a little bit of everything"). Production and assembly is in-house including self-wound magnetics (power and output transformers and filter chokes). The chassis manufacture is outsourced. For a small firm of valve electronics to control their own magnetics from day one is impressive. Ask any tube fancier to hear the same song played: the quality of iron, particularly the output transformer, is paramount to the final performance of glowing amplifiers. The Wooists have 40 years of amp design between them. They're not quite as new at this as it might seem. Which begged the question - where had Wei and Zhi Dong Wu plied their trade before forming Woo Audio?